Arider12's Reading Stories
by Arider12 the 2nd
Summary: Information inside about Arider12's Reading at Hogwarts series, plus previews and prologues. If you're wondering what happened and what's going to happen as Harry, Ron, and Hermione read through their years at Hogwarts, click and read to find out!
1. Important Information

Hello everyone! This is an announcement for everyone who read, followed, or favorited Arider12's Reading...at Hogwarts stories. Unfortunately my account was deleted and all of my stories removed by fanfiction (and before anyone says anything, I know the new penname isnt original) but I'm currently reposting Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets simultaneously. For more information, go to my profile to see where and how you an find the stories. In the meantime, this will serve as a little preview of what you can expect.

Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

-Arider12 (the 2nd)


	2. A Sorcerer's Prologue

**Okay, some quick background information. This story takes place during fifth year, at the start of the Easter holidays, right after Snape's Worst Memory, but before Harry talks to Sirius and Remus. During this story, anything seen in bold, unless specified, belongs to J.K Rowling. All of the characters also belong to her, I only supply the sarcasm and comments. Now on with the show!**

Prologue: The Gathering

It was the first day of the Easter Holidays during Harry Potter's fifth year, and he couldn't have been happier. Between the evil DADA teacher – Umbridge or 'Toad Face' as she was known – visions from inside Voldemort's mind, and distrust amongst his fellow students this year had definitely not been one of Harry's favorites, and he still had a month or so to go. Granted, his past four years hadn't been much better, but at least he had been somewhat happy.

Now, as he was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room alone (the rest of the school was at the feast before leaving for two weeks) he had time to think about all that was going on around him lately. Not that any of it made any sense, and no one was giving him answers. Dumbledore was still refusing to look at him for longer than a brief glance, and the main problem was that though he wanted to be angry at the old man for keeping secrets from him, he just couldn't find the anger in him. Not like that night before they left for Grimauld Place.

Harry angrily flopped himself against the back of the sofa. If only he had listened to the others! Maybe if he had studied Occulmency harder, or not upset Umbridge as much, maybe none of this would be happening. The problem was, there was no one to blame but himself. As much as he may have wanted to blame Dumbledore, he couldn't find it in himself. True, the old wizard had lied and ignored Harry, but Harry was sure that Dumbledore had a reason. A reason he refused to tell Harry.

"Harry?" A voice said from behind him and he whipped around to find Colin Creevy standing behind the couch.

"Oh, hello Colin," Harry answered unenthusiastically. "Why aren't you at the feast?"

"It's over, and Professor McGonagall told me to give you this," the fourth year answered, holding out a piece of parchment.

"She did?" Harry said, sitting upright and taking the parchment. "Thanks Colin. You'd better go finish packing, have a good Holiday." Harry stood up and walked away and out of the Common Room, where he quickly opened the note.

_Harry- _Dumbledore's loopy writing greeted him. _Once you get this, go to the seventh floor and ask for a room where you can read in peace. –AD_

_What? A room where I can read in peace?_ Harry wondered but set off anyway. After months of ignorance, suddenly Dumbledore wants to talk to him? And how had he managed to get back into the school without Umbridge catching him? As he walked, he quickly remembered what was on the seventh floor and slapped a hand to his forehead. Of course! The room of requirement! Picking up his pace, he arrived in front of the concealed room in five minutes.

_I need a place where I can read in peace, a place where I can read in peace._ Harry chanted over and over in his head. Finally a large wooden door appeared and Harry stepped inside eagerly, but cautiously.

The room was huge, easily as large as it had been when the D.A had been using it, perhaps even bigger. There were several couches, a fireplace, two long tables, and two doors on either side of the room, but Harry was only vaguely aware of this. What he was aware of were the people standing – or sitting – in the room.

There was his two best friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Ron's younger sister Ginny, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ron's older brothers Fred and George Weasley, as well as Professors McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and even Snape. There was also a former professor, and Harry gave Remus Lupin a small smile, all the while wondering what he was doing there. Finally, there were three people from the Ministry itself including the Minister Cornelius Fudge and his assistant, Percy Weasley another one of Ron's older brothers, and Amelia Bones, of course, the hated Umbridge was there as well.

"Ah! There you are Harry!" Dumbledore strode forward, his blue eyes twinkling. "I was beginning to wonder if Mr. Creevy delivered the message I gave to Professor McGonagall."

"Err…yeah he did, but what is all this?" Harry asked, referring to everything in general. Dumbledore's cheery mood startled him. Instead of ignoring Harry, he was openly talking to and looking at him.

"This Mr. Potter," Umbridge began in her annoying voice, "is a way to reveal all of your lies to the ones you have deluded."

"Excellent, so we get to find out if it was Harry that planted that trip wire," Fred piped up, ignoring the glares that those from the ministry sent his way.

"Yesterday when I returned to my office –" Umbridge began.

"To clean out her things," Ron muttered.

"One can only hope," Harry muttered back.

"I found five books sitting on my desk. Each one details the events of Mr. Potter's years at Hogwarts, and I know for a fact that they are true." She continued.

"As I am sure we all are curious about what these books say, perhaps we should get started on reading them?" Remus offered, gesturing to the tables and chairs. People nodded and quickly took whatever seat was available.

In the end, most of the Professors sat at the table, along with the members of the Ministry. Fred and George sat on one couch, Luna and Neville sat together, Ginny took a chair, Remus and Hermione were sitting on one of the remaining couches, while Harry and Ron took two chairs much like the ones in the Gryffindor Common Room.

Once everyone had settled, Dumbledore lifted his wand and a book came zooming into his hands. "Well let's begin shall we?" He asked the group in general with a cheerful smile. "The first book is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

Harry groaned and saw Ron and Hermione wearing similar expressions. Dumbledore cleared his throat and began to read.


	3. Sorcerer's 1st Chapter

"**CHAPTER ONE: THE BOY WHO LIVED.**" Dumbledore read."**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**"

"Your welcome very much," Fred and George said at the same time.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"But it is the strange and mysterious things that make life interesting," Luna said in her dreamy voice.**  
**

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. **

"Muggle thing." Hermione said at the many curious looks.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"So we have a walrus, a horse, and a whale, right Harry?" Fred asked and Harry nodded with a smirk.

"Good to know that Petunia hasn't changed," Snape muttered but no one heard him except for Remus due to his heightened senses.**  
**

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"There is nothing wrong with the Potters!" Several people exclaimed, particularly Harry and Remus.

**Mrs.****Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband**

Remus growled, letting his wolfish side show.

**were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"Thank goodness for that," Harry said.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"I think he should mix with a child like Harry!" Ginny exclaimed.**  
**

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, **

"Funny, I thought it already started." George remarked.

**there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, **

"He has a most boring tie?" Hermione asked.

"Actually several," Harry answered.

**and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.****  
****None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"How could you not notice an owl in broad daylight?" Professor Sprout wondered aloud.**  
**

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs.****Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. **

"He encouraged that kind of behavior?!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.****  
****It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight.**

Snape looked over at McGonagall. "What were you doing there of all places?"

"I'm sure if you stopped interrupting Severus, we would find out." She replied shortly.

**What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. **

"I know that stare," Remus and the twins echoed at the same time. Then they looked at one another in surprise.

**As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. **

"Oh I think this cat can," Remus said. "She can read essays too."

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.****  
****But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.**

"Not really, robes have been around for quite a while," Ron said, rolling his eyes.

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! **

"The nerve indeed!" Fred scoffed.

**But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something**

"Like what?" Neville wondered.

**...****yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr.****Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.****  
****Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

"He sounds extremely pleasant Harry," Ginny commented sarcastically.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road**

"What?" Harry asked in surprise. "He did what?"

**to buy himself a bun from the bakery. **

"Ah, that makes sense."

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch was whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.****  
****"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry" **

"And so the rumors begin." Harry commented dryly.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. **

"Shame that he didn't." George said and Fred snickered.

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.****  
****He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. **

"In the Muggle world it isn't," Hermione exclaimed. "But in the wizarding world it is."

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

"Who would name their child Harvey Potter?" Neville asked in confusion.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... **

"There was nothing wrong with Lily!" All of the teachers who had taught the bright witch exclaimed in frustration.

**but all the same, those people in cloaks...****  
****He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.****  
****"Sorry," he grunted, **

"Did he just apologize?" Harry questioned, looking scandalized.

**as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

By this point many of the people in the room had long since realized what day it was and many of the witches – minus Umbridge of course – had tears in their eyes.**  
**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"How can anyone not approve of imagination?" Flitwick wondered in his squeaky voice.**  
**

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.****  
****"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior?**

"No," Remus said shaking his head. "But it is normal Professor McGonagall behavior." His comment earned him an aforementioned stern look.

**Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.****  
****Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"Oh bravo!" The twins clapped sarcastically.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: "And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.****  
**

"Ted Tonks," Professor Sprout said fondly, thinking about her old student.

"Tonks?" Harry asked.

"Yes, that Tonks, Harry," Remus said with a nod.

**"Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"I think Ted's enjoying himself a bit too much," Professor Sprout said, shaking her head but she was smiling.

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain.****Owls flying by daylight. Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place.****And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...****  
****Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Err - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you." As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

Again there were several growls and muttered comments.**  
**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?" **

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..." **

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.****  
****"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd." **

"And what exactly does that mean 'her crowd'?" Ron demanded.

"That would be wizards and anything to do with magic really," Harry said in an unconcerned tone.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?" **

"Well at least he knows something!" Hermione snapped.

** "I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.****  
****"What's his name again. Howard, isn't it." **

"He didn't even know your name?" Hermione exclaimed angrily, causing Remus to wince since he was right next to her.

"Well not at that point. But I can assure you he knew it well enough in a few years," Harry answered in the same tone.

** "Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me." **

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed.****While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there.****It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

"What were you waiting for Professor?" Fred asked.

"Wait and see Mr. Weasley."**  
**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.****The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr.****Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs.****Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... **

"Oh yes, Lily knew how Petunia felt." Snape snarled under his breath.

**He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...****  
****How very wrong he was.****Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"Never would have been able to do that," the twins shook their heads. Sitting still just wasn't possible for them.**  
**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.****Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots.****His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. **

"Dumbledore!" The twins exclaimed excitedly. Dumbledore chuckled.

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Ha! We were right!" Fred said and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"No one disagreed with you," she told him.**  
**

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. **

"Oh, I was very much aware I merely chose to ignore the fact," Dumbledore said, chuckling slightly before resuming reading.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter.**

"I'll explain later," Hermione said quickly as Ron opened his mouth.

**He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. **

**Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, **

"Is that its real name sir?" Hermione asked.

"No, it is called the Deluminator Miss Granger."

**until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.****  
****"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"McGonagall ruffled? She must have had a bad day," Ron said in an undertone.

"What was that Weasley?" McGonagall questioned sharply.

"Oh! Nothing Professor," Ron said quickly while the twins sniggered.**  
**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.****  
****"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly." **

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"All day?" Hermione wondered aloud.**  
**

**"All day? **

"Hermione you think like Dumbledore!" George exclaimed.

"You know she'll take that as a compliment," Harry told him and nodded to Hermione who was beaming.

**When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.****  
****"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.****"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense." **

"Probably was. He always was a bit over eager," Flitwick chimed.

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

Everyone old enough to remember what the wizarding world was like before that fateful Halloween shivered at the thought of those terrible eleven years.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. **

"I can see it now…" George said in a tone reminiscent of Trelawny.

**I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?" **

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?" **

"A what?" Ron asked curiously.

**"A what?" **

"Aww Ron! Why'd you have to think like McGonagall?" Fred complained loudly.

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of." **

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't **

**think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -" **

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name. All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." **

Most of those gathered flinched with the exception of Dumbledore, Remus, and of course, Harry. Hermione, who had gotten somewhat used to the name, only winced slightly.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."****  
****"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of." **

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have." **

"Because you're too noble to use them sir," Harry said, letting the Headmaster know that he was no longer angry at him with a smile. He might still be a bit annoyed with the Headmaster for keeping secrets, but he wasnt angry. Dumbledore returned the smile before turning back to the book.

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them." **

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." **

Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George all exchanged similar, slightly horrified, expressions.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.****  
****"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. " **

By now, McGonagall and Sprout were both wiping tears out of their eyes and Remus dropped his head into his hands. Ginny reached over to where Harry was sitting with his eyes closed and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.****  
****"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it...****Oh, Albus..." **

Remus chuckled slightly. "Never knew you cared so much for James Professor."

McGonagall sniffed. "Well, he did bring a certain spark to class."

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. **

**"I know... I know..." he said heavily.****  
****Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not **

**all.****They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."****Dumbledore nodded glumly.****  
****"It's - it's true." faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy.****It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?" **

"Believe me Professor, I've wondered the same thing," Harry said glumly.

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

Harry shot Dumbledore a look which the Headmaster ignored. Remus caught this interaction and raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch.****  
****It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. **

"I want one!" Fred and George exclaimed.

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?" **

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?" **

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

Harry shook his head. "Not necessarily true," he muttered, looking over at all the red heads and thinking about his godfather.

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here!" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.****"Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets.****Harry Potter come and live here!" **

"Thanks Professor." Harry said, then mumbled under his breath, "Glad to know someone had sense that day."

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter!? Did you honestly believe that a letter could explain everything?" Both Hermione and Ginny were fuming and Remus and Harry both set on calming them down.

**"A letter." repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter. These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future**

"No." Harry said quickly, looking at Fred and George.

"Aww come on Harry just think –,"

" – for one whole day you wont be the only scrawny git in the world!"

"No." Harry repeated sharply and Snape raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. Surely Potter was putting on a show?

**- there will be books written about Harry**

"How many am I in again Hermione?" Harry teased his friend who stuck her tongue out at him.

**- every child in our world will know his name!" **

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"Of course, finding out from a giant who just broke down a door of an isolated cabin wasn't exactly ideal either," Harry mumbled again.

"Isolated cabin?" Remus asked in confusion.

"Something tells me you'll find out soon enough." Harry said, waving at the book.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.****  
****"Hagrid's bringing him." **

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" **

"I trust Hagrid with my life." Harry said, looking at Ron and Hermione.

"No offense mate, while I do trust Hagrid, after Aragog, I wouldn't exactly be following him at a drop of a pin."

"And don't make me bring up Gwarp." Hermione added.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.****  
****"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?" A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Ah, Sirius' bike," Remus mused. "I wondered what had happened to that."**  
**

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.****  
****"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?" **

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir." **

**"No problems, were there?" **

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

"Aww…" Hermione and Ginny cooed while the boys laughed and Harry blushed.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Again, Hermione and Ginny cooed.**  
**

**"Is that where -." whispered Professor McGonagall.****  
****"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." **

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?" **

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. **

"Do you really? Fred quickly interjected. When Dumbledore nodded he and George exchanged glances.

"Wicked." They chorused.

**Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with." Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.****  
****"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"Padfoot would resent that," Remus mused.**  
**

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!" **

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -" **

"Tell me about it," Harry said and Snape frowned. What? Hadn't those Muggles worshipped Potter enough for his liking?

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. **

**He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

Harry shuddered slightly. You know something is bad when Dumbledore's eyes aren't twinkling.**  
**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations." **

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back.**

Remus shook his head. "I don't think he'll be getting back for a while."

**G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir." Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.****  
****"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

"Very polite Professor," George said with a smirk. McGonagall merely glared at him.**  
**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.****  
****"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

"You left him on the doorstep?!" Hermione yelled at the Headmaster and Harry felt a wave of sympathy for Remus, who had clapped his hands over his ears.

"What were you thinking?!" Ginny evidently agreed with Hermione.

"Miss Granger, Miss Weasley, I assure you, Harry was perfectly fine. I had placed several wards and shields over him." Dumbledore soothed the two girls. Seeming somewhat satisfied, they sat down and Remus turned to Hermione.

"Are you going to be doing that a lot?" He asked her seriously and she merely blushed in response.

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs.****Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!".**

"That is the end of the first chapter," Dumbledore said. "Who would like to read next?"

"I will." Professor McGonagall said, taking the book from Dumbledore. She flipped to the appropriate page and cleared her throat.


	4. Chamber Prologue

**This is the sequel to ****Reading Sorcerer's Stone at Hogwarts. If you have not read that yet, please do so as it will explain everything. I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. From this point on, anything in bold unless specified will have come from the book and is the direct property of J.K Rowling. Now, on with the story!**

Harry Potter woke up, and for a fleeting moment he was confused as to why he was in his bed in the boy's dormitories in Gryffindor Tower. Then he remembered the previous day's activities and the reading of the book detailing his first year at Hogwarts.

Earlier the previous day, Harry had received a message from Professor Dumbledore, instructing him to come to the Room of Requirement and ask for a 'Place to read in peace'. Little did Harry know that his least liked teacher – and toad – Dolares Umbridge had found five books that told the story of all five of his years at Hogwarts. He also didn't know that these books were to be read aloud, but only to his close friends and some of the staff. This didn't stop him from being completely embarrassed by some of his thoughts that the book described though, the only good thing was that so far the books hadn't given either Umbridge or Cornelius Fudge – the incompetent Minister of Magic – any just cause to have him arrested. Yet.

He walked downstairs and half expected to see the Common Room full of people before he once again remembered that it was the first full day of the Easter holidays, and that it was rather early. Sighing, Harry walked down to the Great Hall, hoping that maybe breakfast was being served and that he could eat in peace before the Weasley brothers came down and inhaled all the food. When he entered the Hall, he actually found almost everyone sitting down, talking amongst themselves.

At the Gryffindor table he saw Fred and George laughing with Ginny as she was telling them some joke or something. Neville was talking with Luna, who was sitting across from him about Nargles or some other creature. Hermione was sitting next to Luna and was in the middle of a serious discussion with Remus, who was next to Neville. Up at the Staff table, Professor Flitwick was sitting on the end, enjoying the silence it seemed, and next to him sat Professors McGonagall and Sprout who both looked grave. Next to Professor McGonagall sat Professor Snape, sneering slightly as he took in the hall's occupants. And in the middle next to Snape sat Albus Dumbledore, looking around much like Snape, though he was smiling peacefully and his blue eyes were twinkling. On Dumbledore's other side sat Amelia Bones, who like Flitwick, was enjoying the quiet. Next to her sat the third oldest Weasley brother, Percy, who was looking quite satisfied with himself as he talked to Corneilius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. And finally, at the end of the table, sat the teacher Harry hated the most, Dolares Umbridge.

As he scanned the Hall, Harry wondered where Hagrid and Ron were, though he had the feeling that Ron might still be fast asleep upstairs, that didn't explain Hagrid's absence. Harry walked over and sat down next to Hermione.

"Good Morning Harry!" She said, giving him a smile.

"Morning," he said, smiling back at her. "Ron not down yet?"

"Am now," a sleepy voice said from behind and Harry turned around to see Ron standing, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What's for breakfast?"

"See for yourself," Harry said, loading his plate with waffles and sausages. Ron sat down next to him and started piling food on his plate as well before digging in. "So what's on today's schedule?" Harry asked in general.

"Once Hagrid comes back and everyone has finished their breakfast," Remus said, glancing over at Ron. "We'll go back to the Room of Requirement and continue reading."

"Oh." Harry said. "Will Si- I mean Snuffles be there?" He asked hopefully but Remus shook his head.

"Not today. Perhaps tomorrow when we read about your third year. After all, that was when you met him yes?" Remus said casually so that those from the Ministry wouldn't know what or who he was talking about.

Harry nodded, feeling slightly disappointed. While he didn't want Sirius to hear about his life with the Dursley's, he did want him to be there to hear about his adventures at school. Sighing softly, Harry bent over his plate and began to eat, not really paying attention to what was going on around him.

That's why, twenty minutes later when the Great Hall doors burst open, he was one of the people that jumped in their seats and turned quickly to see who it was. Much to Harry's relief, it was only Hagrid, but he also had two people following behind him, both with vibrant red hair and smiles on their faces that Harry would recognize anywhere.

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley!" He said at the same time that Ron said "Mum and Dad!"

"What are you doing here?" They said together, then started to laugh.

Mrs. Weasley smiled at the two boys. "Professor Dumbledore called us here to read a certain book with you lot."

"Indeed I did," Dumbledore said, his voice breaking through all the chatter and creating silence immediately. "And now that we are all present and fed," he glanced at Ron who had a slightly dazed look on his face, "Why don't we proceed to the reading room where we can begin the second book?"

The sound of benches scraping and feet moving echoed through the hall as the large group proceeded to the seventh floor, where they found the door waiting for them. Fred and George were the first ones in and the held the door open for everyone else, making exaggerated bows whenever someone walked inside.

As Harry entered, he noticed that the Room had changed. There was still the main table, where he knew the staff and Ministry members would sit, but there were more couches this time, and no chairs whatsoever. Quickly the group sat down, arranging themselves into groups of two.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat in one couch, Fred and George on another, Neville and Luna, Hermione and Remus, and Ron was stretched out on a couch by himself, so Harry went and sat next to Ginny.

"Do you mind?" He asked her.

"Not at all," she answered, both of them lightly blushing.

Up at the table there were ten chairs and the remaining adults sat themselves in the same order as they had in the Great Hall, although Hagrid sat next to Professor Flitwick at the end of the table.

"Are we ready to begin?" Dumbledore asked once everyone was situated. Receiving nods and affirmatives, he continued. "This book is entitled "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

Both Harry and Ginny blanched at the title, and Hermione and Ron sent them frightened looks.

"If no one has any objections, I will start to read," Dumbledore said and since there were none, he opened the book and began to read. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Remus frowned slightly. Chamber of Secrets? That was simply an old myth…wasn't it?


	5. Chamber's 1st Chapter

"**Chapter One: The Worst Birthday**" Dumbledore read and Remus frowned. Why did all of these books have to start so depressingly?

** Not for the first time, an argument had broken out at number four, Privet Drive. **

"Let, me guess, you're at the center of the argument?" Hermione asked wearily.

"Hermione! I can't believe you would ever suspect me of such a thing!" Harry exclaimed in a mock hurt tone.

** Mr. Vernon Dursley had been woken in the early hours of the morning by a loud, hooting noise from his nephew Harry's room.  
"Third time this week!" he roared across the table. "If you can't control that owl, it'll have to go!"**

"She has a name!" Harry snapped in defense of his owl.**  
Harry tried, yet again, to explain.  
"She's bored," he said. "She's used to flying around outside. If I could just let her out at night -"**

"They wouldn't let you let Hedwig out?" Luna demanded in a tone lacking its usual dreamy quality.**  
"Do I look stupid?" snarled Uncle Vernon, a bit of fried egg dangling from his bushy mustache.**

"Please tell me that's a rhetorical question," Fred said, rolling his eyes.

**"I know what'll happen if that owl's let out."  
He exchanged dark looks with his wife, Petunia.  
Harry tried to argue back but his words were drowned by a long, loud belch from the Dursleys' son, Dudley.  
"I want more bacon."**

"Such a charming child," Professor McGonagall murmured to Professor Sprout, who nodded grimly.**  
"There's more in the frying pan, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia, turning misty eyes on her massive son. "We must build you up while we've got the chance ... I don't like the sound of that school food ..."**

"Probably because it's good for him!" Ron grumbled loudly.**  
"Nonsense, Petunia, I never went hungry when I was at Smeltings," said Uncle Vernon heartily. "Dudley gets enough, don't you, son?"  
Dudley, who was so large his bottom drooped over either side of the kitchen chair,**

"Did not need that mental image Harry," Ginny scolded lightly and Harry shrugged.

"Sorry Gin. Next time someone is going to write a book about my thoughts, I'll try to tone down the observations."

**grinned and turned to Harry.  
"Pass the frying pan."  
"You've forgotten the magic word," said Harry irritably.**

"That won't go over well," George surmised.**  
The effect of this simple sentence on the rest of the family was incredible: Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that shook the whole kitchen;**

"Exaggeration?" Hermione asked hopefully but Harry, along with Fred and George, shook their heads.

**Mrs. Dursley gave a small scream and clapped her hands to her mouth; Mr. Dursley jumped to his feet, veins throbbing in his temples.  
"I meant `please'!" said Harry quickly. "I didn't mean -"  
"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU," thundered his uncle, spraying spit over the table, "ABOUT SAYING THE `M' WORD IN OUR HOUSE?"**

"The 'M' word?" George repeated. "I don't know any 'M' words, do you Gred?"

"Nope, cant say I do Forge."

"Well…not in English anyway," Remus spoke up. "In French…"

"Remus Lupin! You will not teach my children that!" Mrs. Weasley scolded and Remus held his hands up in surrender.

**"But I -"  
"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!" roared Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his fist.**

"How were you threating him? You didn't do anything!" Ron protested.

Harry shrugged. "By existing probably." He didn't catch Snape wincing ever so slightly at those words.

**"I just -"  
"I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!"**

"Abnormality?" Mr. Weasley questioned sharply, looking at Harry.

"Er… my aunt and uncle aren't particularly fond of magic," Harry offered weakly.

"That's an understatement," Remus grumbled under his breath as he remembered the previous book.

**Harry stared from his purple-faced uncle to his pale aunt, who was trying to heave Dudley to his feet.**

"She almost went down about five times before she got him up," Harry sniggered.**  
"All right," said Harry, "all right. . . "  
Uncle Vernon sat back down, breathing like a winded rhinoceros**

"You have a weird thing with animals mate," Ron said shaking his head.

**and watching Harry closely out of the corners of his small, sharp eyes.  
Ever since Harry had come home for the summer holidays, Uncle Vernon had been treating him like a bomb that might go off at any moment, because Harry Potter wasn't a normal boy. As a matter of fact, he was as not normal as it is possible to be.**

"Well that much was obvious."

"Fred!"

"Sorry mum." Fred apologized in a non-apologetic tone.

**Harry Potter was a wizard - a wizard fresh from his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And if the Dursleys were unhappy to have him back for the holidays, it was nothing to how Harry felt.  
He missed Hogwarts so much it was like having a constant stomachache. He missed the castle, with its secret passageways and ghosts, his classes (though perhaps not Snape, the Potions master), **

"I assure you Potter, that I did not miss you either." Snape drawled.

"Well at least everything's right with the world," Fred said cheerfully.

**the mail arriving by owl, eating banquets in the Great Hall, sleeping in his four-poster bed in the tower dormitory, visiting the gamekeeper, Hagrid, in his cabin next to the Forbidden Forest in the grounds, and, especially, Quidditch, the most popular sport in the wizarding world (six tall goal posts, four flying balls, and fourteen players on broomsticks).**

"What about us?" Ron asked, pouting slightly.

Harry thought for a moment. "Yeah I guess I missed you guys," he admitted with a large grin.

**All Harry's spellbooks, his wand, robes, cauldron, and top-of-the-line Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick**

"Actually the Firebolt is the top of the line broomstick," Harry corrected.

**had been locked in a cupboard under the stairs by Uncle Vernon the instant Harry had come home. **

"What?" Remus said blankly.

"Wait until he finds out about the bars," Fred whispered to his twin, forgetting that with his hearing, Remus could hear every word. Remus shot a sharp look to Fred, then at Harry. Bars?

**What did the Dursleys care if Harry lost his place on the House Quidditch team because he hadn't practiced all summer?**

George snorted. "Please, Wood wouldn't kick you off if you didn't show up to any practices!"

**What was it to the Dursleys if Harry went back to school without any of his homework done? The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles (not a drop of magical blood in their veins), and as far as they were concerned, having a wizard in the family was a matter of deepest shame.**

"It is not! They should be proud to have you as a part of their family!" Mrs. Weasley exploded.

**Uncle Vernon had even padlocked Harry's owl, Hedwig, inside her cage, **

"That's animal cruelty!" Luna said fiercely, surprising those that knew her only as a somewhat dreamy girl.

**to stop her from carrying messages to anyone in the wizarding world.  
Harry looked nothing like the rest of the family.**

"Thank goodness for that," Harry said reverently and Ginny silently agreed.

**Uncle Vernon was large and neckless, with an enormous black mustache; Aunt Petunia was horse-faced and bony; Dudley was blond, pink, and porky. Harry, on the other hand, was small and skinny, with brilliant green eyes and jet-black hair that was always untidy.**

Remus sighed softly at the reminder of his two best friends. Yes it had been fourteen years, but seeing Harry brought it back up even though it was far from the boy's fault.

**He wore round glasses, and on his forehead was a thin, lightning-shaped scar.  
It was this scar that made Harry so particularly unusual, even for a wizard. This scar was the only hint of Harry's very mysterious past, of the reason he had been left on the Dursleys' doorstep eleven years before.**

"Doorstep?" Mrs. Weasley said, even sharper that her husband had. "What does that mean, left on a doorstep?" She questioned Harry.

"Well…you see…" Harry struggled.

"Perhaps later when we finish this book, you and Arthur can read the first one and become caught up," Remus suggested smoothly, saving Harry from explaining and getting a grateful look in return.

**At the age of one year old, **

"Technically you were fifteen months," Remus corrected and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Close enough."

**Harry had somehow survived a curse from the greatest Dark sorcerer of all time, Lord Voldemort, whose name most witches and wizards still feared to speak. **

"Say it with me now," Harry said slowly. "Vold-e-mort. It's not that hard." Hard or not, several people in the room either winced or flinched.

**Harry's parents had died in Voldemort's attack, but Harry had escaped with his lightning scar, and somehow - nobody understood why Voldemort's powers had  
been destroyed the instant he had failed to kill Harry.**

"Or some people know and just don't like to tell," Harry grumbled, giving Dumbledore a pointed look. Sure he had forgiven the Headmaster, but he still didn't like being left in the dark.

**So Harry had been brought up by his dead mother's sister and her husband. He had spent ten years with the Dursleys, never understanding why he kept making odd things happen without meaning to, believing the Dursleys' story that he had got his scar in the car  
crash that had killed his parents.**

Remus growled at the mention of how the Dursleys had lied to Harry.**  
And then, exactly a year ago, Hogwarts had written to Harry, and the whole story had come out. Harry had taken up his place at wizard school, where he and his scar were famous ... but now the school year was over, and he was back with the Dursleys for the  
summer, back to being treated like a dog that had rolled in something smelly.  
The Dursleys hadn't even remembered that today happened to be Harry's twelfth birthday.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" Fred and George yelled, only to receive a glare from their mother.

Harry chuckled. "You couldn't have waited a few months?"

"Nope."

**Of course, his hopes hadn't been high; they'd never given him a real present, let alone a cake - but to ignore it completely...**

"You poor boy," Mrs. Weasley cooed softly making Harry flush somewhat.**  
At that moment, Uncle Vernon cleared his throat importantly and said, "Now, as we all know, today is a very important day."  
Harry looked up, hardly daring to believe it.**

"I wouldn't have," Neville said, speaking for the first time.

**"This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career," said Uncle Vernon.  
Harry went back to his toast. Of course, he thought bitterly, Uncle Vernon was talking about the stupid dinner party. He'd been talking of nothing else for two weeks. Some rich builder and his wife were coming to dinner and Uncle Vernon was hoping to get a huge order from him (Uncle Vernon's company made drills).  
"I think we should run through the schedule one more time," said Uncle Vernon.**

"They had a schedule?" George asked incredulously. "Blimey, how boring can you get?"

**"We should all be in position at eight o'clock. Petunia, you will be -?"  
"In the lounge," said Aunt Petunia promptly, "waiting to welcome them graciously to our home."  
"Good, good. And Dudley?"  
"I'll be waiting to open the door." Dudley put on a foul, simpering smile. "May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"  
"They'll love him!" cried Aunt Petunia rapturously.**

As Dumbledore read this line, Fred and George mimed being sick much to the general amusement.

**"Excellent, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon. Then he rounded on Harry. "And you?"  
"I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," said Harry tonelessly.**

"You shouldn't have had to." Remus growled, low enough for only Harry and Hermione, who was sitting right next to him, to hear.

**"Exactly," said Uncle Vernon nastily. "I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them -drinks. At eight fifteen -"**

"Blimey, right down to the minute? Seriously?" Fred asked.**  
"I'll announce dinner," said Aunt Petunia.  
"And, Dudley, you'll say -"  
"May I take you through to the dining room, Mrs. Mason?" said Dudley, offering his fat arm to an invisible woman.**

"That's the only kind of woman he'll ever get." Fred inputted wisely.

**"My perfect little gentleman!" sniffed Aunt Petunia.**

A round of snorts in disbelief broke through the reading.**  
"And you?" said Uncle Vernon viciously to Harry.  
"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," said Harry dully.**

Remus growled softly again. This was going to be a long chapter.**  
"Precisely. Now, we should aim to get in a few good compliments at dinner. Petunia, any ideas?"**

"They actually thought of ideas for compliments?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yes." Harry answered simply.

**"Vernon tells me you're a wonderful golfer, Mr. Mason... Do tell me where you bought your dress, Mrs. Mason ..."  
"Perfect. . . Dudley?"  
"How about -'We had to write an essay about our hero at school, Mr. Mason, and I wrote about you."'**

"Had he ever even met the bloke Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "Nope," he answered, popping the 'p'.

**This was too much for both Aunt Petunia and Harry. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and hugged her son, while Harry ducked under the table so they wouldn't see him laughing.**

In the present, Harry had no such reservations and laughed out loud.

**"And you, boy?"  
Harry fought to keep his face straight as he emerged.**

"That wasn't easy either, let me tell you."**  
"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," he said.  
"Too right, you will," said Uncle Vernon forcefully. "The Masons don't know anything about you and it's going to stay that way. When dinner's over, you take Mrs. Mason back to the lounge for coffee, Petunia, and I'll bring the subject around to drills. With any luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the news at ten. We'll be shopping for a vacation home in Majorca this time tomorrow."**

"Why Majora?" Ginny wondered.**  
Harry couldn't feel too excited about this. He didn't think the Dursleys would like him any better in Majorca than they did on Privet Drive.**

"Probably not," Ginny said sadly but Harry gave her a small smile.

**"Right - I'm off into town to pick up the dinner jackets for Dudley and me. And you," he snarled at Harry. "You stay out of your aunt's way while she's cleaning."  
Harry left through the back door. It was a brilliant, sunny day. He crossed the lawn, slumped down on the garden bench, and sang under his breath:  
"Happy birthday to me ... happy birthday to me. . ."**

Harry did his best to try and ignore the pitying glances he was getting.**  
No cards, no presents, and he would be spending the evening pretending not to exist.**

Remus just sighed and clenched his hands into fists, not even bothering to growl anymore.

**He gazed miserably into the hedge. He had never felt so lonely. More than anything else at Hogwarts, more even than playing Quidditch, Harry missed his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. **

"There we are!" Ron cried triumphantly.

**They, however, didn't seem to be missing him at all. Neither of them had written to him all summer, even though Ron had said he was going to ask Harry to come and stay.**

"Of course we did!" Hermione protested. "You know we did but –"

"I know, I know, and I forgave you." Harry said hastily.

**Countless times, Harry had been on the point of unlocking Hedwig's cage by magic and sending her to Ron and Hermione with a letter, but it wasn't worth the risk. Underage wizards weren't allowed to use magic outside of school. Harry hadn't told the Dursleys this; he knew it was only their terror that he might turn them all into dung beetles that stopped them from locking him in the cupboard under the stairs with his wand and broomstick.**

"Cupboard?" Mr. and Mrs. Weasley asked.

"First book," majority replied, giving the current book harsh glares

**For the first couple of weeks back, Harry had enjoyed muttering nonsense words under his breath and watching Dudley tearing out of the room as fast as his fat legs would carry him.**

Fred and George laughed heartily at the picture.

**But the long silence from Ron and Hermione had made Harry feel so cut off from the magical world that even taunting Dudley had lost its appeal - and now Ron and Hermione had forgotten his birthday.**

The two opened their mouth but Harry quickly cut them off. "I know you didn't, but at the time it seemed that way."

**What wouldn't he give now for a message from Hogwarts? From any witch or wizard? He'd almost be glad of a sight of his archenemy, Draco Malfoy, just to be sure it hadn't all been a dream...  
Not that his whole year at Hogwarts had been fun. At the very end of last term, Harry had come face-to-face with none other than Lord Voldemort himself.**

"What!" Mrs. Weasley cried. She hadn't heard about that, though her boys had been saying something about Ron and a chess set…

Seeing that no one was going to reply, Mr. Weasley quickly mumbled, "Must be first book." To his wife.

**Voldemort might be a ruin of his former self, but he was still terrifying, still cunning, still determined to regain power. Harry had slipped through Voldemort's clutches for a second time, but it had been a narrow escape, and even now, weeks later, Harry kept waking in the night, drenched in cold sweat, wondering where Voldemort was now, remembering his livid face, his wide, mad eyes.**

"You shouldn't have had to." Hermione said, quickly giving the Headmaster a glare. Now more than ever she was convinced that Dumbledore had set everything up for Harry that year.

**Harry suddenly sat bolt upright on the garden bench. He had been staring absent-mindedly into the hedge - and the hedge was staring back. Two enormous green eyes had appeared among the leaves.**

"Whose were they?" Several people demanded.

"Why don't you let the Headmaster continue so that we may find out?" Professor McGonagall snapped.

**Harry jumped to his feet just as a jeering voice floated across the lawn.  
"I know what day it is," sang Dudley, waddling toward him.**

"He can't carry a tune to save his life," Harry said shaking his head.

"Are you really surprised though?" Ron asked.**  
The huge eyes blinked and vanished.**

"Weird," Neville commented.

**"What?" said Harry, not taking his eyes off the spot where they had been.  
"I know what day it is," Dudley repeated, coming right up to him.**

"Congratulations! Next is the numbers!" Fred and George mocked.

**"Well done," said Harry. "So you've finally learned the days of the week."  
"Today's your birthday," sneered Dudley. "How come you haven't got any cards? Haven't you even got friends at that freak place?"  
"Better not let your mum hear you talking about my school," said Harry coolly.  
Dudley hitched up his trousers, which were slipping down his fat bottom.**

"Again with the detail," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

**"Why're you staring at the hedge?" he said suspiciously.  
"I'm trying to decide what would be the best spell to set it on fire," said Harry.  
Dudley stumbled backward at once, a look of panic on his fat face.  
"You c-can't - Dad told you you're not to do m-magic**

"How would he know anyway?" Neville asked.

**- he said he'll chuck you out of the house - and you haven't got anywhere else to go - you haven't got any friends to take you -"**

"Yes he does!" Nearly all those in the semi-circle exclaimed.**  
"Jiggery pokery!" said Harry in a fierce voice. "Hocus pocus squiggly wiggly -"**

There was an explosion of laughter.

"Brilliant Harry!" Fred managed to gasp between his laughter.

"Absolutely brilliant!" George agreed, not much better off than Fred.

**"MUUUUUUM!" howled Dudley, tripping over his feet as he dashed back toward the house. "MUUUUM! He's doing you know what!"**

** Harry paid dearly for his moment of fun. As neither Dudley nor the hedge was in any way hurt, Aunt Petunia knew he hadn't really done magic, but he still had to duck as she aimed a heavy blow at his head with the soapy frying pan. **

"She did what?" Remus growled, glaring at the book, looking ready to tear it apart.

"She missed," Harry said quickly.

"That's beside the point."

**Then she gave him work to do, with the promise he wouldn't eat again until he'd finished.  
While Dudley lolled around watching and eating ice cream, Harry cleaned the windows, washed the car, mowed the lawn, trimmed the flowerbeds, pruned and watered the roses, and repainted the garden bench. The sun blazed overhead, burning the back of his neck.**

"But you could have gotten heat stroke!" Hermione fretted.

"Relax 'Mione. Obviously I didn't, since I'm right here, perfectly fine," Harry told her.

**Harry knew he shouldn't have risen to Dudley's bait, but Dudley had said the very thing Harry had been thinking himself... maybe he didn't have any friends at Hogwarts...**

"Of course you do!" All of the students said or in some cases, shouted.

**Wish they could see famous Harry Potter now, he thought savagely as he spread manure on the flower beds, his back aching, sweat running down his face.  
It was half past seven in the evening when at last, exhausted, he heard Aunt Petunia calling him.**

"They had you work all day with no food, water, or rest?" Hermione looked almost as livid as Remus, who was pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stop the headache that was forming.

**"Get in here! And walk on the newspaper!"  
Harry moved gladly into the shade of the gleaming kitchen. On top of the fridge stood tonight's pudding: a huge mound of whipped cream and sugared violets. A loin of roast pork was sizzling in the oven.  
"Eat quickly! The Masons will be here soon!" snapped Aunt Petunia, pointing to two slices of bread and a lump of cheese on the kitchen table. **

"That's not a meal for a growing boy!" Mrs. Weasley gasped, and Harry could already smell all the food that she would be getting him to eat at lunch.

**She was already wearing a salmon-pink cocktail dress.  
Harry washed his hands and bolted down his pitiful supper. The moment he had finished, Aunt Petunia whisked away his plate.  
"Upstairs! Hurry!"  
As he passed the door to the living room, Harry caught a glimpse of Uncle Vernon and Dudley in bow ties and dinner jackets. He had only just reached the upstairs landing when the door-bell rang and Uncle Vernon's furious face appeared at the foot of  
the stairs.  
"Remember, boy - one sound -"  
Harry crossed to his bedroom on tiptoe slipped inside, closed the door, and turned to collapse on his bed.  
The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.**

"Who was it?" Neville asked anxiously.

"I'm afraid that will have to wait until next chapter Mr. Longbottom," Dumbledore said. "Who would care to read next? Professor McGonagall?"

"Oh, all right then," McGonagall sighed, accepting the offered book. She turned the page.


	6. A Prisoner's Prologue

Prologue

Harry Potter woke up to someone shaking him gently. That didn't stop him from nearly jumping out of bed and hexing the person though. In fact, the hex probably would have flown and hit its target if he hadn't caught sight of the red hair.

"Ginny," he said. "Were you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Ginny Weasley smiled innocently at him. "Heart attack? Of course not. I was just trying to get you up in time for you to eat breakfast before we start reading the next book."

Harry groaned. He had been spending the first two days of the Easter break reading books that were about his first two years at Hogwarts with his friends, teachers, and as-close-to-family-members that he got. So far he could have been expelled numerous of times for some of the things the books were revealing and he was certain that if she got her way, Dolores Umbridge, the most hated Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and evil ministry hag, would have him out of Hogwarts and made a laughing stock. In a way, it was almost a good thing these books showed up because now he could prove to her that he was telling the truth and everyone else could see what a…well, what a witch she was.

"Are you coming or what?" Ginny asked snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "Why aren't you waking Ron or Neville up?"

"Because they are already in the hall, pigging out on breakfast, well Ron is at least," she told him. "You're the last one up."

Normally, this would have bothered Harry since he was normally an early riser, but he knew why. He had spent half the night drifting off to sleep, only to be awoken by a flare or flash of a dream or snippet into Voldemort's mind, jolting him awake only to have the process repeated. He really hadn't fallen asleep until late that morning, and now he was going to be paying for it.

"Okay, give me five minutes," he sighed to Ginny, who backed out of the dormitory. He pulled out some clothes, went into the bathroom, changed and got ready only slightly after the five minutes he promised Ginny. He walked down into the Common Room and found her waiting for him.

"Ready?" She asked, her lips curving upward and Harry found himself smiling.

"Yeah, let's go."

They walked down into the hall in companionable silence and Harry wondered what had changed for Ginny to be able to actually walk with him not be bright red. _Well whatever it was,_ he thought happily, _thank goodness for it._

They reached the Great Hall and Harry was about to go in but Ginny's hand caught his wrist.

"Harry," she began. "Listen, I wanted to…to say thank you for yesterday."

He gave her a gentle smile. "Anytime Gin."

"And," she took a breath. "And that you can talk to me about your dreams."

Quickly covering his shock, Harry feigned ignorance. "What dreams?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You know very well what dreams. I just want you to know that well…that I know what's it like to have him inside your head and that if you want to talk about it, I'm here." Then, before he could respond, she turned and walked into the hall, acting like nothing had happened. He watched her go, her red hair trailing down her back. _Thank goodness indeed._

After eating a hasty breakfast and trying not to dwell on either his dreams or what Ginny had said, Harry followed Ron and Hermione up to the Room of Requirement along with Neville, Luna, and Fred and George. There they were met by Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, Hagrid and Snape. Harry gave a smile to Hagrid but glared coldly at Snape, both of which were returned. After a moment, Mrs. Weasley came up to them, smiling when she saw Harry's questioning look.

"Arthur had to go back to work today; he said something about exploding toilets." Harry nodded understandingly, remembering Mr. Weasley talking about those before his hearing over the summer. He looked around and saw that the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, Madame Amelia Bones, Umbridge, and Percy Weasley had all arrived. The only ones missing now were…

"Where are Remus and Si- Snuffles?" Harry asked.

"Late, because someone wouldn't get up," a voice said from behind him and Harry turned to find Remus Lupin standing behind him with a large black dog next to him. "I had to dump a bucket of water on him and he didn't want to leave until his precious hair was dry." Remus rolled his eyes and Snuffles yipped indignantly.

"Well now that we are all here," Dumbledore began, his eyes twinkling merrily. "Shall we head inside?"

There was a murmur of assent and a rush to the door. If their mother hadn't been there, it would have been safe to assume that Fred and George would have pushed their way through to get inside first. As it was, the teachers and Ministry officials went in first, followed by Mrs. Weasley, and then the rest merely filed in.

The room still had the same number of couches as it did the day before and the same seats were filled by the same people. At the long table in front of the room, Dumbledore sat in the middle with Snape to his left, followed by McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, and Hagrid, who took up the entire end of the table. To Dumbledore's right, Madame Bones sat down, looking quite comfortable, followed by Percy Weasley, who looked anything but comfortable, Cornelius Fudge, who had a faint inkling about what was going to happen today, and finally, Dolores Umbridge who was giving everyone her sickly sweet smile. Arranged in a half circle in front of the table were six couches, each seating two people. Mrs. Weasley sat the closest to Umbridge, with Ginny next to her. Neville and Luna were sharing a couch, Fred and George were together of course, Harry sat down and Snuffles jumped into the seat nearest George, Remus sat down next to Harry and Hermione sat next to him, leaving Ron to have a couch to himself near Hagrid.

Once everyone was situated Dumbledore pulled out a hardcover book. "This book is entitled **Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban**." Harry gave a faint smile when Snuffles barked joyfully at the title. "However, before we begin I must ask something of you Cornelius, and of you Amelia." Dumbledore continued gravely.

"What is it Dumbledore?" Fudge asked wearily. He wasn't sure how many more surprises he could take.

"I must ask that no matter what is read about during this book, you both refrain from judgment until the book is over."

"That is reasonable," Madame Bones agreed readily. "Isnt it Cornelius?" She gave the Minister a meaningful look.

"Yes, yes fine we won't judge until the book's over."

Dumbledore smiled genially. "Excellent. In that case, would you be so kind as to join us Sirius?"

Snuffles gave an agreeing bark and a second later where a large black dog once sat was a handsome man with long black hair and grey eyes that held both laughter and sadness. He was, of course, Sirius Black.

The reaction was slightly delayed but amusing all the same.

Fudge jumped to his feet, losing his balance from the rapidness of his movement and wobbling a bit. Neville paled and his eyes went wide, but he remained in his seat. Luna seemed unfazed by the sudden appearance of a mass murderer, as did Madame Bone, both of whom were watching everything calmly. Professor Flitwick gave a slight squeak and slipped in his seat, Professor Sprout paled and fingered her wand.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, he's not that scary, and trust me, he's looked worse."

Sirius looked offended. "Oi, I have always been handsome Pup."

Remus coughed loudly and Harry snickered.

"B-but B-black!" Fudge stammered. "He…dog…how?"

"I assure you Cornelius, all will be revealed." Dumbledore smiled. "Now, shall we begin?"


	7. Prisoner's 1st Chapter

"**Chapter One: Owl Post**" Dumbledore read clearly.

**Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. **

"Well we already knew that," the twins chimed.

"Shut up," Harry said half-heartedly.

**For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year.**

"No Harry! What's wrong with you?" George sobbed and pretended to faint.

**For another, he really wanted to do his homework**

Fred gaped like a fish before pretending to pass out next to his brother.

**but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.**

"You would save that for last," Hermione remarked.**  
**

**It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his stomach in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a flashlight in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot) **

"You actually read that book?" Ron asked.

"I had to for the homework," Harry answered defensively.

"Yeah but you actually read…" Ron repeated.

"Just because he was trying to do his work instead of leaving it until the last minute Ron," Ginny mentioned and Ron went slightly pink.

**propped open against the pillow. Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, 'Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless - discuss.'**

"Uh because the Muggles never caught real witches?" Neville offered.

"Actually," Hermione began but Harry cut her off.

"I think we could go without the history lesson 'Mione."**  
**

**The quill paused at the top of a likely looking paragraph. Harry pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, moved his flashlight closer to the book, and read:****  
**

_**Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognizing it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame-Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty-seven times in various disguises.**_

"Why would anyone enjoy being burned at the stake?" Fred wondered.

"I don't think any sane person would," George pointed out and they looked at one another with identical grins.**  
**

**Harry put his quill between his teeth and reached underneath his pillow for his inkbottle and a roll of parchment. Slowly and very carefully he unscrewed the ink bottle, dipped his quill into it, and began to write, pausing every now and then to listen, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on their way to the bathroom, he'd probably find himself locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the summer.**

Remus gave a soft growl and Sirius, who had gotten no further in the first book than the first few pages until he fell asleep, was thoroughly confused.**  
**

**The Dursley family of Number Four, Privet Drive,**

"Why do we have to read about them every single book?" Remus groaned, sensing that a brief summary of the past two years would soon be following.

**was the reason that Harry never enjoyed his summer holidays. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and their son, Dudley, were Harry's only living relatives. They were Muggles, and they had a very medieval attitude toward magic. Harry's dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never mentioned under the Dursleys' roof. For years, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had hoped that if they kept Harry as downtrodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic out of him.**

"Never going to happen." Ron said smugly. The idea of Harry without magic was…well…ridiculous.

**To their fury, they had not been unsuccessful. These days they lived in terror of anyone finding out that Harry had spent most of the last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most they could do, however, was to lock away Harry's spell books, wand, cauldron, and broomstick at the start of the summer break, and forbid him to talk to the neighbors.**

"Petunia should have known that you had summer work," Remus muttered under his breath.

_And that is exactly why they were locked away,_ Snape thought grimly.**  
**

**This separation from his spell books had been a real problem for Harry, because his teachers at Hogwarts had given him a lot of holiday work. One of the essays, a particularly nasty one about shrinking potions, was for Harry's least favorite teacher, Professor Snape, who would be delighted to have an excuse to give Harry detention for a month.**

Judging by the sneer on his face, Harry took his assumption about Snape to be right.

**Harry had therefore seized his chance in the first week of the holidays. While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernon's new company car (in very loud voices, so that the rest of the street would notice it too), Harry had crept downstairs, picked the lock on the cupboard under the stairs,**

"Told you that would be useful," George said happily.

"Yup one of the best things I've ever learned." Harry added.

"You know, most people wouldn't consider knowing how to pick locks a good thing to learn," Sirius pointed out.

"You did." Remus said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well that's different."

"Of course it is."

**grabbed some of his books, and hidden them in his bedroom. As long as he didn't leave spots of ink on the sheets, the Dursleys need never know that he was studying magic by night.****  
**** Harry was particularly keen to avoid trouble with his aunt and uncle at the moment, as they were already in an especially bad mood with him,**

"Oh no," Remus groaned. "What happened now?"

"Ron happened." Harry said teasingly to his friend, who blushed a bright red.

"I apologized for that you know!" Ron defended and Harry smirked.

"Yes you did but its still fun to annoy you with it."

**all because he'd received a telephone call from a fellow wizard one week into the school vacation.****  
**** Ron Weasley, who was one of Harry's best friends at Hogwarts, came from a whole family of wizards. This meant that he knew a lot of things Harry didn't, but had never used a telephone before. Most unluckily, it had been Uncle Vernon who had answered the call.**

"Oh this should be good," Remus commented and Fred and George, who had been there for the call laughed.**  
**

**"Vernon Dursley speaking."****  
**** Harry, who happened to be in the room at the time, froze as he heard Ron's voice answer.**

"Wait a minute. You were in the room, not on the telephone so you shouldn't have heard his answer." Sirius mused.

"You know what a telephone is?" Harry inquired.

"Yup, I took Muggle Studies to annoy my mum," Sirius answered happily.

"You actually paid attention though?" Remus said in amazement.

"Of course I did," Sirius said in a 'what are you dumb?' kind of tone. "It wouldn't have annoyed her if I didn't get a good grade in it."**  
**

**"HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I - WANT - TO - TALK - TO - HARRY - POTTER!"****  
**** Ron was yelling so loudly that Uncle Vernon jumped and held the receiver a foot away from his ear, staring at it with an expression of mingled fury and alarm.****  
**** "WHO IS THIS?" he roared in the direction of the mouthpiece. "WHO ARE YOU?"****  
**** "RON - WEASLEY!" Ron bellowed back, as though he and Uncle Vernon were speaking from opposite ends of a football field.**

"Muggle thing," Hermione answered quickly.

"That's the thing were they play that game that Dean is always talking about right?" Ron asked and Hermione sighed.

"Yes Ronald. You play _football_ in a _football _stadium."

**"I'M - A - FRIEND - OF - HARRY'S - FROM - SCHOOL -"****  
**** Uncle Vernon's small eyes swiveled around to Harry, who was rooted to the spot.****  
**** "THERE IS NO HARRY POTTER HERE!" he roared, now holding the receiver at arm's length, as though frightened it might explode. **

"You know," George whispered to his twin. "We are getting some really good ideas from these books."

"Yeah," Fred whispered back. "We should hire Harry and just let him think all day, we'd probably get some really good stuff."

**"I DON'T KNOW WHAT SCHOOL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! NEVER CONTACT ME AGAIN! DON'T YOU COME NEAR MY FAMILY!"****  
**** And he threw the receiver back onto the telephone as if dropping a poisonous spider.**

Ron shivered, as did a few others who were recalling the incident with Aragog the previous day.**  
**

**The fight that had followed had been one of the worst ever.****  
**** "HOW DARE YOU GIVE THIS NUMBER TO PEOPLE LIKE - PEOPLE LIKE YOU!" Uncle Vernon had roared, spraying Harry with spit.**

"Eww." Ginny, Hermione, and Luna all wrinkled their noses in disgust.**  
**

**Ron obviously realized that he'd gotten Harry into trouble, because he hadn't called again. Harry's other best friend from Hogwarts, Hermione Granger, hadn't been in touch either. Harry suspected that Ron had warned Hermione not to call, which was a pity, because Hermione, the cleverest witch in Harry's year, had Muggle parents, knew perfectly well how to use a telephone, and would probably have had enough sense not to say that she went to Hogwarts.**

"So glad you think that," Hermione sighed.

"I meant it in a good way!" Harry defended.

"I know you did," she said with a small smile.**  
**

**So Harry had had no word from any of his wizarding friends for five long weeks, and this summer was turning out to be almost as bad as the last one.**

"Except for the bars, the locks, and the crazy elf," Remus stated and a few seconds later he received a slight hit to the back of the head from Hermione. "Would you stop doing that?" He asked her.

"When you stop being mean to Dobby." She replied innocently.

"Shut up," Remus snapped at Sirius who was trying not to laugh.

"Who me?"

"Yes you."

**There was just one very small improvement - after swearing that he wouldn't use her to send letters to any of his friends, Harry had been allowed to let his owl, Hedwig, out at night. **

"Good." Luna said firmly.

**Uncle Vernon had given in because of the racket Hedwig made if she was locked in her cage all the time.****  
**** Harry finished writing about Wendelin the Weird and paused to listen again. The silence in the dark house was broken only by the distant, grunting snores of his enormous cousin, Dudley.**

"He cant be enormous, he's only what… a year older than you?" Sirius wondered.

Harry looked at him. "You haven't read the first book yet have you?"

Sirius shook his head.

"Well, to answer your question, yes he can. I told you about the diet last summer right?"

"Yeah but you just said it was just because your Aunt had gone mad."

"Actually it was because Dudley had gotten so big to the point where the school he goes to no longer sold trousers to fit him."

**It must be very late, Harry thought. His eyes were itching with tiredness. Perhaps he'd finish this essay tomorrow night...**

"Good, you shouldn't be doing work so late," Mrs. Weasley said reprovingly.**  
**

**He replaced the top of the ink bottle; pulled an old pillowcase from under his bed; put the flashlight, A History of Magic, his essay, quill, and ink inside it; got out of bed; and hid the lot under a loose floorboard under his bed. Then he stood up, stretched, and checked the time on the luminous alarm clock on his bedside table.****  
**** It was one o'clock in the morning. Harry's stomach gave a funny jolt. He had been thirteen years old, without realizing it, for a whole hour.**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Fred, George, and Sirius all shouted, causing Remus to jump.

"You couldn't have waited a few months could you?" Harry asked them with a smile.

"Nope," the twins answered, popping the 'p'.**  
**

**Yet another unusual thing about Harry was how little he looked forward to his birthdays. He had never received a birthday card in his life.**

"You should have," Remus said, glaring slightly at Dumbledore, who was pointedly ignoring the werewolf's glare.

**The Dursleys had completely ignored his last two birthdays, and he had no reason to suppose they would remember this one.****  
**** Harry walked across the dark room, past Hedwig's large, empty cage, to the open window. He leaned on the sill, the cool night air pleasant on his face after a long time under the blankets. Hedwig had been absent for two nights now.**

Hermione smiled, knowing exactly where Hedwig had gone and what she was bringing back.

**Harry wasn't worried about her: she'd been gone this long before. But he hoped she'd be back soon - she was the only living creature in this house who didn't flinch at the sight of him.****  
**** Harry, though still rather small and skinny for his age, had grown a few inches over the last year. His jet-black hair, however, was just as it always had been - stubbornly untidy, whatever he did to it.**

"Yeah James could never get it to work, no matter what Lily did to it," Sirius said fondly.

"Remember the potion before Christmas?" Remus said and they both burst out laughing.

"He wouldn't go in public for weeks!" Sirius got out into between laughter.

**The eyes behind his glasses were bright green, and on his forehead, clearly visible through his hair, was a thin scar, shaped like a bolt of lightning.****  
**** Of all the unusual things about Harry,**

"And that list is quite long," Ron intoned.

"Thanks mate."

"Anytime."

**this scar was the most extraordinary of all. It was not, as the Dursleys had pretended for ten years, a souvenir of the car crash that had killed Harry's parents,**

"What!?" Sirius yelled. "They said what?"

"If you had read the first book you would already know about this," Remus growled, angry at the reminder of what the Dursleys had told Harry and of how they had treated him.

**because Lily and James Potter had not died in a car crash. They had been murdered, murdered by the most feared Dark wizard for a hundred years, Lord Voldemort.**

Remus and Sirius bowed their heads, their hands trembling as they remember what happened in this book, how the filthy traitor got away…

**Harry had escaped from the same attack with nothing more than a scar on his forehead,**

"Not true," Remus whispered softly. Harry had gotten much more than a scar that night.

**where Voldemort's curse, instead of killing him, had rebounded upon its originator. Barely alive, Voldemort had fled...****  
**** But Harry had come face-to-face with him at Hogwarts. Remembering their last meeting as he stood at the dark window, Harry had to admit he was lucky even to have reached his thirteenth birthday.**

"Honestly, I don't know whether you have the best luck or the worst luck of anyone I have ever met," Neville mused.

"I like to think about it as having bad luck but then getting an insane amount of good luck when I need it the most," Harry said casually.**  
**

**He scanned the starry sky for a sign of Hedwig, perhaps soaring back to him with a dead mouse dangling from her beak, expecting praise.**

"How about a dead rat?" Sirius grumbled and Remus nodded in agreement.

**Gazing absently over the rooftops, it was a few seconds before Harry realized what he was seeing.****  
**** Silhouetted against the golden moon, and growing larger every moment, was a large, strangely lopsided creature, and it was flapping in Harry's direction. He stood quite still, watching it sink lower and lower. For a split second he hesitated, his hand on the window latch, wondering whether to slam it shut. But then the bizarre creature soared over one of the street lamps of Privet Drive, and Harry, realizing what it was, leapt aside.**

"What was it?" Luna asked interestedly.**  
**

**Through the window soared three owls,**

"Ah," Luna said with a dreamy smile.

**two of them holding up the third, which appeared to be unconscious. They landed with a soft flump on Harry's bed, and the middle owl, which was large and gray, keeled right over and lay motionless. There was a large package tied to its legs.**

"Errol," all the Weasleys groaned. How that owl had lived so long was beyond all of them.**  
**

**Harry recognized the unconscious owl at once - his name was Errol, and he belonged to the Weasley family.**

"Unfortunately," Ron grumbled.

"But would you rather have Errol or Pig?" Harry asked.

Ron thought for a moment. "I don't know, they're both bloody annoying."

"Ronald! Language!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.

**Harry dashed to the bed, untied the cords around Errol's legs, took off the parcel, and then carried Errol to Hedwig's cage. Errol opened one bleary eye, gave a feeble hoot of thanks, and began to gulp some water.****  
**** Harry turned back to the remaining owls. One of them, the large snowy female, was his own Hedwig. She, too, was carrying a parcel and looked extremely pleased with herself. She gave Harry an affectionate nip with her beak as he removed her burden, then flew across the room to join Errol.****  
**** Harry didn't recognize the third owl, a handsome tawny one, but he knew at once where it had come from, because in addition to a third package, it was carrying a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest. When Harry relieved this owl of its burden, it ruffled its feathers importantly, **

"Sounds like a Percy owl," George stage whispered and all those who could hear glanced up at Percy and smiled in amusement.

**stretched its wings, and took off through the window into the night.****  
**** Harry sat down on his bed and grabbed Errol's package, ripped off the brown paper, and discovered a present wrapped in gold and his first ever birthday card.**

"Yes! And it was from me!" Ron cheered happily.

**Fingers trembling slightly, he opened the envelope. Two pieces of paper fell out - a letter and a newspaper clipping.****  
**** The clipping had clearly come out of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, because the people in the black-and-white picture were moving. Harry picked up the clipping, smoothed it out, and read:****  
**

**MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE****  
**_** Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.**__**  
**__**A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank."**__**  
**__** The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.**_**  
**

**Harry scanned the moving photograph, and a grin spread across his face as he saw all nine of the Weasleys waving furiously at him, standing in front of a large pyramid. Plump little Mrs. Weasley; tall, balding Mr. Weasley; six sons; and one daughter, all (though the black-and-white picture didn't show it) with flaming-red hair. Right in the middle of the picture was Ron, tall and gangling, with his pet rat, Scabbers,**

Though he was glaring darkly at the book, Sirius couldn't help but smile slightly. If it hadn't been for that picture… he put his arm around his godson who seemed surprised but didn't pull away.

**on his shoulder and his arm around his little sister, Ginny.****  
**** Harry couldn't think of anyone who deserved to win a large pile of gold more than the Weasleys, who were very nice and extremely poor. He picked up Ron's letter and unfolded it.****  
**

_**Dear Harry,**__**  
**__** Happy birthday!**__**  
**__** Look, I'm really sorry about that telephone call. I hope the Muggles didn't give you a hard time.**_

"What were you expecting to happen?" Neville asked.

"Well honestly, I never really thought they were _that_ bad," Ron defended.

_**I asked Dad, and he reckons I shouldn't have shouted.**_

The twins exchanged looks. "You think?"_**  
**_

_**It's amazing here in Egypt. Bill's taken us around all the tombs and you wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and stuff.**_

Ginny smiled happily. "Fred and George showed me pictures. It wasn't all that bad."_**  
**_

_**I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons! Most of it's gone on this trip, but they're going to buy me a new wand for next year.**_

"Thank goodness," Ron sighed.

"Yeah you probably wouldn't have survived another year with the old one," Harry agreed._**  
**_

**Harry remembered only too well the occasion when Ron's old wand had snapped. It had happened when the car the two of them had been flying to Hogwarts had crashed into a tree on the school grounds.**

"You make it seem so casual," Hermione muttered.**  
**

_**We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get my wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you there?**__**  
**__** Don't let the Muggles get you down!**__**  
**__** Try and come to London,**__**  
**__** Ron**__**  
**__**P.S. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week.**_**  
**

**Harry glanced back at the photograph. Percy, who was in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, was looking particularly smug. **

"Urgh, I am so glad James never turned out to be that kind of Head Boy," Sirius said, making a disgusted face. "By the way," he turned to Dumbledore and McGonagall. "How'd he become Head Boy in the first place? Don't you have to be a Prefect first? And the smartest Prefect was…" He trailed off and looked over at Remus who was whistling innocently.

"Carry on sir," Remus said after mouthing 'I'll tell you later' to Sirius.

**He had pinned his Head Boy badge to the fez perched jauntily on top of his neat hair, his horn-rimmed glasses flashing in the Egyptian sun.****  
**** Harry now turned to his present and unwrapped it. Inside was what looked like a miniature glass spinning top. There was another note from Ron beneath it.****  
**

_**Harry - this is a Pocket Sneakoscope. If there's someone untrustworthy around, it's supposed to light up and spin. Bill says it's rubbish sold for wizard tourists and isn't reliable, because it kept lighting up at dinner last night. But he didn't realize Fred and George had put beetles in his soup.**_

Said people laughed at the memory. "That was great!" Fred laughed.

"Especially when he caught the first one!" George agreed._**  
**_

_**Bye - Ron**_**  
**

**Harry put the Pocket Sneakoscope on his bedside table, where it stood quite still, balanced on its point, reflecting the luminous hands of his clock. He looked at it happily for a few seconds, then picked up the parcel Hedwig had brought.****  
**** Inside this, too, there was a wrapped present, a card, and a letter, this time from Hermione.**

_**Dear Harry,**__**  
**__** Ron wrote to me and told me about his phone call to your Uncle Vernon. I do hope you're all right.**__**  
**__** I'm on holiday in France at the moment and I didn't know how I was going to send this to you - what if they'd opened it at customs? - but then Hedwig turned up! I think she wanted to make sure you got something for your birthday for a change. **_

"She cares a lot about you," Luna sighed happily.

"Yeah she does," Harry agreed. He didn't know what he would do without Hedwig.

_**I bought your present by owl-order; there was an advertisement in the Daily Prophet (I've been getting it delivered; it's so good to keep up with what's going on in the wizarding world), Did you see that picture of Ron and his family a week ago? I bet he's learning loads. I'm really jealous - the ancient Egyptian wizards were fascinating.**__**  
**__** There's some interesting local history of witchcraft here, too. I've rewritten my whole History of Magic essay to include some of the things I've found out, I hope it's not too long - it's two rolls of parchment more than Professor Binns asked for.**_

"How on Earth could you write two rolls of parchment more than the requirement?" Remus asked her bemused.

"There was a lot of interesting facts that I wanted to include!" Hermione protested._**  
**_

_**Ron says he's going to be in London in the last week of the holidays. Can you make it? Will your aunt and uncle let you come? I really hope you can. If not, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September first!**__**  
**__** Love from**__**  
**__** Hermione**__**  
**__**P.S. Ron says Percy's Head Boy. I'll bet Percy's really pleased. Ron doesn't seem too happy about it.**__**  
**_

"Understatement to both of those," Ron said.**  
**

**Harry laughed as he put Hermione's letter aside and picked up her present. It was very heavy. Knowing Hermione, he was sure it would be a large book full of very difficult spells **

"I am not that predictable!"

Harry and Ron shifted guiltily and Hermione huffed.

**- but it wasn't. His heart gave a huge bound as he ripped back the paper and saw a sleek black leather case, with silver words stamped across it, reading Broomstick Servicing Kit.**

"Wow," all the Quidditch players and fans alike breathed. Fred and George were practically drooling.**  
**

**"Wow, Hermione!" Harry whispered, unzipping the case to look inside.****  
**** There was a large jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tail-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass to clip on your broom for long journeys, and a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare.****  
**** Apart from his friends, the thing that Harry missed most about Hogwarts was Quidditch, the most popular sport in the magical world **

"The only sport in the magical world," Remus corrected.

**- highly dangerous, very exciting, and played on broomsticks. Harry happened to be a very good Quidditch player;**

"Or the best Quidditch player Hogwarts has ever seen," Ginny added rolling her eyes.

"Oh come on, I'm not that good!" Harry said, blushing slightly.

"You're right mate," Ron said seriously. "You aren't that good. You're better."

"Your father would be so jealous that his son is a better player than he could ever be," Sirius chuckled.

**he had been the youngest person in a century to be picked for one of the Hogwarts House teams. One of Harry's most prized possessions was his Nimbus Two Thousand racing broom.**

"Nope, it's my Firebolt." Harry amended, giving Sirius a smile.**  
**

**Harry put the leather case aside and picked up his last parcel. He recognized the untidy scrawl on the brown paper at once: this was from Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. He tore off the top layer of paper and glimpsed something green and leathery, but before he could unwrap it properly, the parcel gave a strange quiver, and whatever was inside it snapped loudly - as though it had jaws.**

"I hated those things," Neville mumbled, remembering all the accidents he had with those books that year.**  
**

**Harry froze. He knew that Hagrid would never send him anything dangerous on purpose, but then, Hagrid didn't have a normal person's view of what was dangerous. Hagrid had been known to befriend giant spiders, buy vicious, three-headed dogs from men in pubs, and sneak illegal dragon eggs into his cabin.**

"Quite the track record, wouldn't you agree Minister?" Umbridge broke in, speaking for the first time.

"I believe you will find Dolores, that no evidence of any of those activities can be proven and we have only the word of Mr. Potter, who you believe to be a compulsive liar, so clearly his testimony isn't worth much." McGonagall snapped.

Harry smiled. That was the first (and probably last) time he had ever been glad to have been called a liar.**  
**

**Harry poked the parcel nervously. It snapped loudly again. Harry reached for the lamp on his bedside table, gripped it firmly in one hand, and raised it over his head, ready to strike.**

"Help us!" George cried in a high pitched voice.

"Harry Potter is going to attack us with a lamp!" Fred continued in the same voice.

"No, but he will attack you with a pillow if you don't shut up," Harry said with a smirk that made them both shut up immediately.

"Why do you never do that for me?" Ron moaned.

**Then he seized the rest of the wrapping paper in his other hand and pulled.****  
**** And out fell - a book. Harry just had time to register its handsome green cover, emblazoned with the golden title The Monster Book of Monsters, before it flipped onto its edge and scuttled sideways along the bed like some weird crab.****  
**** "Uh-oh," Harry muttered.**

"Uh-oh is right," Neville agreed.**  
**

**The book toppled off the bed with a loud clunk and shuffled rapidly across the room. Harry followed it stealthily. The book was hiding in the dark space under his desk. Praying that the Dursleys were still fast asleep, Harry got down on his hands and knees and reached toward it.****  
**** "Ouch!"****  
**** The book snapped shut on his hand and then flapped past him, still scuttling on its covers. Harry scrambled around, threw himself forward, and managed to flatten it. Uncle Vernon gave a loud, sleepy grunt in the room next door.****  
**** Hedwig and Errol watched interestedly as Harry clamped the struggling book tightly in his arms, hurried to his chest of drawers, and pulled out a belt, which he buckled tightly around it. The Monster Book shuddered angrily, but could no longer flap and snap, so Harry threw it down on the bed and reached for Hagrid's card.****  
**

_**Dear Harry,**__**  
**__** Happy Birthday!**__**  
**__** Think you might find this useful for next year. Won't say no more here. Tell you when I see you.**__**  
**__** Hope the Muggles are treating you right.**__**  
**__** All the best,**__**  
**__** Hagrid**_**  
**

**It struck Harry as ominous that Hagrid thought a biting book would come in useful,**

"No, I would call that perfectly normal," Sirius remarked.

**but he put Hagrid's card up next to Ron's and Hermione's, grinning more broadly than ever. Now there was only the letter from Hogwarts left.****  
**** Noticing that it was rather thicker than usual, Harry slit open the envelope, pulled out the first page of parchment within, and read:****  
**

_**Dear Mr. Potter,**__**  
**__** Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock.**__**  
**_

_**Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign.**__**  
**_

_**A list of books for next year is enclosed.**__**  
**__** Yours sincerely,**__**  
**__** Professor M. McGonagall**__**  
**__**Deputy Headmistress**_**  
**

**Harry pulled out the Hogsmeade permission form and looked at it, no longer grinning. It would be wonderful to visit Hogsmeade on weekends; he knew it was an entirely wizarding village,**

"How'd you know that?" Ron asked and Harry shrugged.

"I do read sometimes you know, not like Hermione level, but a bit."

"Hermione-level?" Said girl repeated and Harry gulped.

Neville chuckled. "Guess we know who runs the Trio," he whispered to Ginny who giggled.

**and he had never set foot there. But how on earth was he going to persuade Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to sign the form?****  
**** He looked over at the alarm clock. It was now two o'clock in the morning.**

"You really should go to bed dear," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Don't worry Mrs. Weasley, I do," Harry informed her.**  
**

**Deciding that he'd worry about the Hogsmeade form when he woke up, Harry got back into bed and reached up to cross off another day on the chart he'd made for himself, counting down the days left until his return to Hogwarts. Then he took off his glasses and lay down; eyes open, facing his three birthday cards.****  
**** Extremely unusual though he was, at that moment Harry Potter felt just like everyone else - glad, for the first time in his life, that it was his birthday.**

Dumbledore sighed heavily in his mind. If he had known how Harry would be treated at his Aunt and Uncle's…but there was nothing he could about that now. He could only hope to fix it in the future.

"That is the end of the chapter," he announced. "Severus, I believe it is your turn to read now."

Snape opened his mouth, probably to protest, but closed it when he saw the stern look the Headmaster was giving him. So, with a heavy sigh and two glares, one to Potter and the other to the Headmaster, Snape took the book warily.


End file.
